Monday 4th January 2000 marked the genesis of a vision. The vision was borne by Mr. & Mrs. Melau to bring forth. And behold the school Ongata Academy came into being. Brief and precise the vision slowly took off to what is Ongata Academy today.
Many assume that the school as it stands today; meticulously and full of life has always been that way. That is actually not the case. In latin language we can loosely say that it started Poco a poco – little by little.
The school began very small. When it first opened its doors, there were only 4 children in the whole school. At the inception, the school opened doors to preschool and classes 1 to 4. Along with the few students there were 6 teachers and 3 support staff. Most of the pioneers in terms of the staff members still work within the institution. In the same year the school provided transport to its pupils through a small borrowed station wagon.
It was in the year 2004 that the first class sat for the national KCSE exams. It was a major milestone for the school to position itself as a major competitor in the industry. The performance that year was so good. Of the 18 registered pupils to sit for the exam that year, 14 of them managed to get positions in national schools. The first pupil managed to get 459 marks out of the possible 500. This pupil was the best candidate in the then Kajiado district and was the second overall best in the Rift Valley. Indeed it was a great start for the school and it was only possible through God. Ongata had established itself right from the beginning as a powerhouse in the industry. By this time the population of the school had risen to about 104 pupils and about 11 teaching staff ensuring the teacher to pupil ratio of 1:10.
As a result of the performance that was recorded in the year 2004, many more pupils came and joined the school. At the beginning of that year the number of pupils had risen to about 240. Over the years, the school has continued to produce stellar performance in the national examinations with the majority of the students being admitted into national schools.
Fast forward to the year 2010, the school was marking 10 years since it was established. To do this, the school opened its doors to the Ongata Senior School in December that year. It was from that time that the senior school started operating.
The first KCSE was taken in the year 2013. The students performed well and had a mean score of 7.2. From then the school has continued to register good results in subsequent years. Most of our students who complete their studies in the senior school are able to get admissions in various universities. Other than that we pride ourselves in high levels of discipline. Our students are taught to uphold high levels of discipline within and out of the school. It is a journey where we walk together with our students guiding them in the best possible ways and helping them to mould their future.
Indeed the school has come from far to the point it is at. Thus far we have come it is the Lord. We can only be thankful for his continued faithfulness upon us. As it is written in 1 Samuel 7:12 “Thus far the Lord has helped us”. We can only say that indeed we have seen His goodness and mercies upon us.